Evolution: bacterial version of inventive mechanism (Evolution)

by David Turell , Saturday, June 01, 2019, 23:36 (2000 days ago) @ dhw

It appears necessary mutations can be automatic under stress:

https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1007995&...

Abstract:

"Mutations drive evolution and were assumed to occur by chance: constantly, gradually, roughly uniformly in genomes, and without regard to environmental inputs, but this view is being revised by discoveries of molecular mechanisms of mutation in bacteria, now translated across the tree of life. These mechanisms reveal a picture of highly regulated mutagenesis, up-regulated temporally by stress responses and activated when cells/organisms are maladapted to their environments—when stressed—potentially accelerating adaptation. Mutation is also nonrandom in genomic space, with multiple simultaneous mutations falling in local clusters, which may allow concerted evolution—the multiple changes needed to adapt protein functions and protein machines encoded by linked genes. Molecular mechanisms of stress-inducible mutation change ideas about evolution and suggest different ways to model and address cancer development, infectious disease, and evolution generally.

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"Here, we review some of the wealth of evidence, much of which originated in microbes, that reframes mutagenesis as dynamic and highly regulated processes. (my bold) Mutation is regulated temporally by stress responses, occurring when organisms are poorly adapted to their environments, and occurs nonrandomly in genomes. Both biases may accelerate adaptation.

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"John Cairns’ later proposal of “directed” or “adaptive” mutagenesis in starvation-stressed Escherichiacoli[10, 11] reframed the supposed randomness of mutation as an exciting problem not yet solved. The mutagenesis they studied under the nonlethal environment of starvation is now known to reflect stress-induced mutagenesis—mutation up-regulated by stress responses. Its molecular mechanism(s), reviewed here, demonstrate regulation of mutagenesis. Similar mechanisms are now described from bacteria to humans, suggesting that regulated mutagenesis may be the rule, not the exception

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"During a general stress response, theσS transcriptional activator increases the transcription of hundreds of genes (approximately 10% of all E.coligenes) that provide a range of protective functions. We do not know exactly how the general stress response promotes mutagenesis.

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"In addition to starvation-induced MBR inE.coli, diverse bacteria and single-celled eukaryotes display examples of stress response–up-regulated mutagenesis. Some of these mutation mechanisms provide additional insight into how mutation rates vary across genomes in ways that may accelerate adaptive evolution. Many share characteristics withE.coliMBR but differ enough to suggest that regulated mutagenesis has evolved independently multiple times, thus highlighting the importance of regulated mutagenesis to evolution-driven problems, such as combatting infectious disease and antimicrobial resistance.

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"Stress response–up-regulated mutation mechanisms have been discovered in plants, flies, and human cells (reviewed, [12]). The potential adaptive roles of these mutation mechanisms are less clear in multicellular organisms than in microbes. Do these mechanisms contribute to germline variation (and thus organismal evolution), mosaicism and somatic cell evolution, or both? Or are they simply biproducts of other required cellular functions or stress-induced dysfunctions?

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"Mutations provide the raw material for evolution but can also decrease the fitness of an organism. ... Constitutively high mutation rates are advantageous in rapidly changing environments but decrease fitness in more stable (or periodically changing) environments. By biasing mutation to times of stress and to particular genomic regions, perhaps such regions relevant to a specific stress, stress-induced mutagenesis mechanisms provide the benefits of high mutation rate, while mitigating the risks. The ubiquity of these mechanisms throughout the tree of life supports their crucial role in evolution.

"Stress-induced mutation mechanisms, first discovered in bacteria, challenge historical assumptions about the constancy and uniformity of mutation. Mutation is still viewed as probabilistic, not deterministic, but we argue that regulated mutagenesis mechanisms greatly increase the probability that the useful mutations will occur at the right time, thus increasing an organism’s ability to evolve and, possibly, in the right places. Assumptions about the constant, gradual, clock-like, and environmentally blind nature of mutation are ready for retirement. " (my bold)

Comment: IM described as a highly controlled, regulated mechanism. My bold above is their view of stepwise original Darwin theory: gone.